Chapter 674: DONT UNLOCK REPEAT

The phone rang again before Dayo had a chance to move away from the table.

He looked at the screen and saw the same unknown number.

Felix stopped typing.

Dayo answered the call and put it on speaker.

"You’ve received the next instruction," the intermediary said.

Dayo remained quiet, waiting for him to continue.

"This one is different. There is an investigation involving a company. You are going to make sure that investigation stops. You have the influence to do it."

Dayo looked at Felix.

"What company?"

"The details will be sent to you."

"And if I refuse?"

The man’s voice became colder. "You already know what happens if you refuse."

Dayo looked down at the floor for a moment. "What about my daughter?"

"She’s alive. Do what you’re told, and she stays alive."

The call ended.

For a few seconds, neither man spoke.

Dayo picked up the phone again when the message arrived. There was a document attached to it with the name of the company, the investigation, and the people involved. He opened it and read through the first page without saying anything.

The demand was clear.

They wanted him to use his influence to interfere with the investigation and make sure it did not continue.

It was not a request that could be handled with a phone call to some ordinary employee. Whoever had given them the instruction knew exactly how much influence Dayo had built over the last few years. They knew who could be pressured, who could be approached, and which doors could be opened through his relationships.

Dayo passed the phone to Felix.

"Read it."

Felix took the phone and went through the document carefully. His expression changed slightly when he reached the name of the investigation.

"This isn’t about money."

Dayo sat back in his chair. "That’s what I was thinking."

Felix continued reading. "Do you know these people?"

"Not directly. I’ve heard of the company."

He paused and looked toward the empty hallway.

"I don’t understand why they want me involved."

Felix returned to the beginning of the document and read it again. "They want the investigation stopped. That’s very specific."

"Exactly."

Dayo leaned forward and rested both hands on the table. "That’s why I’m starting to think the first request was meant to distract us."

Felix looked at him.

"They asked for ten million dollars first," Dayo said. "I paid it. They kept Jennifer. Then they came back with this."

"The money was probably a test."

"Maybe. Or they wanted me to believe this was an ordinary ransom."

Felix looked at the security footage still open on another screen. The delivery vehicle remained paused outside Dayo’s house, captured from one of the cameras farther down the street.

"The operation doesn’t look ordinary," he said.

Dayo shook his head. "That’s what I keep coming back to."

He began going through the events again, this time without rushing.

"Bella was with Jennifer. Then someone called her and told her there was an emergency with her family. She left because she believed it. Luna had a meeting that took her out of the house at almost the same time. Wayne’s phone was compromised, and whoever did it knew exactly what message would make me turn around. Then they used a delivery man to get through the gate."

Felix listened without interrupting.

"The guard was taken down quickly," Dayo continued. "They knew where the cameras were. They knew how the house was protected. They knew when I would be leaving and when I would be coming back."

Felix turned toward his laptop.

"And they knew enough about you to know that ten million dollars wouldn’t be the main issue."

Dayo looked at him.

"I have the money," he said. "They knew that. Anyone who spent time studying me would know that. The amount was large enough to make the demand believable, but not large enough to put me in a position where I’d have to sell a company or start moving things around."

Felix pulled the security timeline onto the main screen.

"You’re right about one thing. This was planned around your routine."

Dayo stood and moved closer to the screen.

Felix pointed at the different time stamps.

"Look at this. Bella leaves. Luna’s meeting is already underway. Your movement from the office is recorded. Then the message comes through Wayne’s phone after the watcher confirms you’ve reached the landmark. They didn’t just know where you were. They knew when you were likely to be somewhere else."

Dayo studied the timeline.

"What does that tell you?"

"That the people behind this had information before they moved."

"How much?"

"I don’t know yet."

Felix returned to the document containing the second demand.

"But this gives us another direction."

Dayo looked at him.

"Find out why this investigation matters to them."

Felix nodded. "That’s what I’m doing."

"Don’t contact anyone involved yet."

"I wasn’t planning to."

"Good."

Felix turned back to the laptop and began opening records.

Dayo remained beside him for a while, watching the investigation develop across the screens. He wanted to do something himself, but he knew Felix was better at this part. Dayo had spent years learning how to act under pressure, but Felix had spent his time learning how to find things that other people wanted hidden.

"How long?" Dayo asked.

Felix didn’t look away from the screen. "I don’t know."

"Give me an estimate."

"If the records are clean, maybe an hour. If someone has buried the connections, longer."

Dayo accepted that.

"We don’t have all day."

"I know."

The pressure in the room remained constant, but Dayo was no longer moving around without direction. He had a task now. Felix had one too.

Jennifer was still the reason behind everything.

Luna sat in the living room with her phone resting beside her.

She had been staring at the same message for several minutes without opening it.

Dayo entered quietly.

She looked up immediately.

"What did they say?"

Dayo sat beside her.

"They made another demand."

Luna waited.

"They don’t want more money."

Her face tightened with worry. "Then what do they want?"

"They want me to interfere with an investigation."

Luna stared at him for a moment. "What does that mean?"

"I don’t know everything yet. Felix is checking it."

She looked down at her hands.

"I should have taken her with me."

Dayo knew exactly what she meant.

"Luna."

"If I had just taken Jennifer with me, she would have been with me. Bella would have stayed with us. None of this would have happened."

"You don’t know that."

"I know she was safe before I left."

"And she was safe because we had security here."

Luna shook her head. "Dayo, I left her."

"You went to a meeting. You didn’t know someone was planning to take her."

She looked at him again, tears already gathering in her eyes.

"I keep thinking about it."

"I know."

"What if I had stayed?"

Dayo reached for her hand.

"Then they might have found another way. We don’t know what would have happened. You can’t sit here and blame yourself for something you didn’t know was coming."

Luna wiped her face with her free hand.

"We need to call the police."

Dayo was quiet for a moment.

"I know."

"Then call them."

"I can’t."

She looked at him with disbelief. "Why not?"

"The kidnappers told me not to. They said if I contact the police, they’ll send me a picture of Jennifer with a weapon beside her."

Luna’s face changed immediately.

"They said that?"

Dayo nodded.

"They threatened to send a picture of her asleep with a knife or a gun beside her if I called."

Luna covered her mouth as tears came down her face.

Dayo moved closer.

"Please, calm down."

"She’s just a baby."

"I know."

"She’s alone with them."

"She’s not alone. They’re keeping her somewhere. They sent proof that she’s alive."

"That doesn’t make me feel better."

"I know it doesn’t."

Luna looked at him through her tears. "How are you staying so calm?"

"I’m not calm."

She stopped.

Dayo took a slow breath before continuing.

"I’m scared too. I’m trying not to let it control what I do. If I lose my head, I make a mistake. If I make a mistake, Jennifer could pay for it."

Luna looked down.

Dayo kept hold of her hand.

"We’re going to find her. Felix is working on it. I’m working on it. We’re going to get her back."

She leaned against him and cried quietly.

Dayo stayed beside her until she had settled enough to speak again.

"Do you think she’s scared?"

"I don’t know."

That was the only honest answer he could give her.

Luna closed her eyes.

Dayo looked toward the stairs, then back at her.

"Stay here for now."

She nodded.

"I’ll come back."

Felix was still at the computer when Dayo returned.

The room had become darker because nobody had bothered to turn on the overhead lights. Several monitors were glowing across the desk, showing financial records, company information, security footage and the payment trail.

Dayo pulled a chair over.

"Anything?"

Felix rubbed his eyes and looked through the records again.

"I’ve found a few things, but I’m not ready to say what they mean."

"Tell me anyway."

"The company in the demand has been under pressure for a while. The investigation is not new. There are several agencies and private investigators looking at different parts of it."

"Why would they care?"

"That’s what I’m trying to figure out."

Felix opened another file.

"There are financial links, but they’re indirect. Several companies sit between the people involved."

Dayo leaned closer.

"Could it be connected to the people who attacked us before?"

Felix stopped.

"What people?"

Dayo paused.

"I mean people we’ve had problems with."

Felix looked at him.

"You’re thinking about someone we’ve offended."

"I don’t know. I’m just saying that somebody capable of organizing this probably didn’t choose that investigation randomly."

Felix went back to the records.

"That is possible."

Dayo watched him work.

A few minutes passed before Felix spoke again.

"There is something strange here."

"What?"

Felix opened another record.

"The company in the demand has a connection to a consulting group that has appeared in several other investigations."

Dayo leaned forward.

"What kind of consulting group?"

"Financial and corporate restructuring. They work with companies that are in trouble, but their involvement isn’t always obvious."

"Do they have a connection to us?"

"Not directly."

Felix opened another screen.

"But some of their clients have."

Dayo looked at the list.

Several names were unfamiliar.

Others were not.

He recognized one company that had appeared in a previous investigation involving people connected to the entertainment industry.

"How far does it go?"

"I’m still checking."

Dayo sat back.

"Keep going."

Felix nodded and returned to the records.

The thought that had been sitting in Dayo’s mind since the second demand became harder to ignore.

Someone wanted him to interfere with an investigation.

Someone knew enough about his influence to believe he could do it.

Someone had kidnapped Jennifer to force him.

The money had been the first step.

This was the reason.

But he still didn’t know who was behind it.

Michael received another call while sitting in the police station.

He answered and listened.

"The second instruction has been delivered."

Michael looked toward the closed door of the room.

"Any response?"

"Not yet."

"Don’t pressure him."

"We understand."

Michael ended the call and immediately contacted Silas.

Silas answered after a few seconds.

"He received it?"

"Yes."

"How did he react?"

"We don’t know yet."

Silas was quiet.

Michael continued, "We should wait."

"You keep saying that."

"Because we don’t know what he’s doing."

Silas considered the words.

"He paid the ten million."

"That doesn’t mean he’ll obey the second demand without investigating it."

"You think he can find us?"

"Not from this."

Michael looked down at the notes in front of him.

"Not yet."

Silas remained silent.

Michael continued, "The second demand is the part we need to watch. If he starts asking why we chose that investigation, we need to know what he’s found."

"And if he refuses?"

"We deal with that when it happens."

Silas leaned back in his holding cell.

"I still think he’ll do it."

Michael didn’t answer immediately.

"I think he’ll try to understand it first."

"Either way, Jennifer gives us leverage."

"Yes."

The call ended.

Michael remained seated.

He had expected Dayo to pay the first demand. The money had confirmed that the pressure worked.

Now they needed to see whether the second demand would work the same way.

Felix was still digging when Dayo returned to the room.

This time, Felix didn’t turn around immediately.

"Dayo."

"What’s wrong?"

"I’m finding something strange."

Dayo walked closer.

Felix pointed at the screen.

"The investigation you’re being asked to interfere with isn’t isolated. There are other companies and people connected to it. I’ve been following the links backward, and some of them lead into older cases."

"Which cases?"

"That’s what I’m checking."

Dayo waited.

Felix opened another file and compared two sets of information.

"I don’t want to jump to a conclusion."

"You don’t have to."

"I think this may be connected to someone we’ve dealt with before."

Dayo looked at the screen again.

"What do you mean, someone we’ve offended?"

Felix stopped typing.

He stared at the information in front of him for several seconds before answering.

"I think this..."

He paused.

Then he looked back at the screen.

"I need to check one more thing."

Dayo waited for him to continue, but Felix didn’t.

For the first time since Jennifer disappeared, Dayo felt that they were getting close to something.

He just didn’t know what it was yet.

Across the city, Michael was still waiting for another call, while Silas sat in his holding cell waiting for the same answer.

Neither man knew what Felix had found.

Neither knew how much Dayo had already begun questioning the demand.

For the moment, all they could do was wait and see what he would do next.